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View Poll Results: Which is most impressive

Voters

99. You may not vote on this poll

Back to Back to Back to Back Sweet 16 and beyond

2525.25%

Winning an NCAA tournament game in each of the past 10 seasons

1313.13%

20 straight years of dancing

2727.27%

Half of the Top 5 Academic All Americans/Basketball All Americans are Zags

Those are really tough choices. It is a little like saying "pick your favorite child", I went with the double AA's. Do you feed this stuff to the announcers before each game? You are like our very own SID on this site, thanks for that.

Birddog

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

I care about all of them, but the Academic AAs with straight AAs statistic is truly special/differentiating...unless and until they start paying the kids, colleges (and fans) should take the "student athlete" concept seriously.

When a student athlete succeeds and receives awards for their studies, that should take precedents over all else. One admirable thing about GU is not just putting together a basketball team, volleyball team, baseball team or cross-country team,, but giving young student athletes the necessary tools to get a great education and be successful in life after sports.

Academic excellence by our student athletes is a shared cultural value across the athletics department and a tremendous amount of resources ($money) is dedicated towards that excellence.

Frankly, I think it has become much more important part of the culture since I've been there. Academic excellence at Gonzaga in general has increased as the enrollment demand has increased. The academic resumes of prospective students across the board are starting to rival top private schools across the west.

Academic excellence by our student athletes is a shared cultural value across the athletics department and a tremendous amount of resources ($money) is dedicated towards that excellence.

Frankly, I think it has become much more important part of the culture since I've been there. Academic excellence at Gonzaga in general has increased as the enrollment demand has increased. The academic resumes of prospective students across the board are starting to rival top private schools across the west.

Most college basketball players don’t go pro so most players are in school primarily for academics. I picked #4.

The NCAA Graduation Success Rate tracks degree completion for student-athletes, even those who transfer. Some data from the NCAA in terms of Graduation Success Rates (GSR) (overall - all sports) for Western Conferences:

Given the conference, the 20 years dancing is least impressive. The academic all Americans belongs in its own category as Spy would concede. The 10 opening wins is nice but again GU generally gets high seeds due in part to the weak conference. The 3 straight S16s is dynamite. Isn’t it 4 straight? The KW layup to Dook, the dream season w the Josh floater, the Collins fiasco and this year? No? That’s E8, S16 to Cuse, THE NC and to the FSU thugs?

Ed: Scratch all that. I counted one too few “backs.” Three straight E8s would have been nice, too.

The fact that you can do all the team has done w/ the academic accolades (including graduation rate) is phenomenal, so it is hard to hear of one without thinking of the other.

Jazz rightly points to it being easier bc of the conference to get the 20 straight, that's just truth. But, the easier conference in basketball wasn't as easy a conference w/ respect to academics, and we've all seen that teams can essentially hire mercenaries that have no interest in going to class, never mind graduating. I also am not sure I am buying that we got higher seeds bc of the easier conference, not sure about that over the course of the last 10 years. It's worth looking at, just not sure.

I always thought the 10 straight first game wins was the most impressive, and appreciate it even more after this year. But, 4 straight Sweet Sixteens or better, while graduating our players with the same core all of us took, that has likely displaced the 10 year thing.

Great thread, GZ.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain.

The fact that you can do all the team has done w/ the academic accolades (including graduation rate) is phenomenal, so it is hard to hear of one without thinking of the other.

Jazz rightly points to it being easier bc of the conference to get the 20 straight, that's just truth. But, the easier conference in basketball wasn't as easy a conference w/ respect to academics, and we've all seen that teams can essentially hire mercenaries that have no interest in going to class, never mind graduating. I also am not sure I am buying that we got higher seeds bc of the easier conference, not sure about that over the course of the last 10 years. It's worth looking at, just not sure.

I always thought the 10 straight first game wins was the most impressive, and appreciate it even more after this year. But, 4 straight Sweet Sixteens or better, while graduating our players with the same core all of us took, that has likely displaced the 10 year thing.

Great thread, GZ.

So jazz and Dixie if it is so easy because of a league affiliation why has no other team in the many many lesser leagues done it yet or even say 6 in row?

So jazz and Dixie if it is so easy because of a league affiliation why has no other team in the many many lesser leagues done it yet or even say 6 in row?

It's not easy, even in lesser leagues. People don't like admitting this, but lesser leagues also come with lesser econsystem's with regard to the talent of personnel, players, and the quality of economics. And when you do find the diamonds in the rough, they tend to move upward more and more these days. Inconsistency is far more likely when the variables are that shaky. Few and Co. have been able to battle against that current and find success where no other program in their position has.